Furnace for heating metal.



- P. J. NICE. FURNAGE POR HEATING METAL.

APPLIOATION ILED FEB. 14, 1910.

Patented Mar.28,1911'.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

z /2 I. 3g@ H f I fr! y? 1. I y wwf( f 1 @Mw M Nimm! F. J. NICE.

PURNAGE POB HEATING METAL. APPLICATION FILED FEB.14, 1910.

988,01 9. Patented Mar. 28, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

`Fig. 3.

litmus-s numtur Attnmrgl e UNH* FREDRICH J. NIcn, or PONTIAC, MICHIGAN.

FURNACE FOR HEATING METAL.

Specification. or Letters Patent.

Application filed February 14, 1910.

Patented Mar. 2,8, 1911. Serial No. 543,367.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, FRnDRIcI-r J. NICE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pontiac, county of Oakland, State of Michigan,have inventeda certain new and useful Improvement in Furnaces for Heating Metal, anddeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of thesame, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertainsto make and use the degree of Fahrenheit, for any length of time,limited only to the durability of the furnace.

In a furnace constructed in accordance with the invention material maybe heated as desired. For example, in a furnace heated to the temperingheat of steel, steel prepared for springs may be heated to the desiredamount, withdrawn and plunged into the tempering bath, and subsequentlyheated in a second furnace heated to the proper annealing point, and ifthe steel itself is homogeneous and without flaw, the resulting'temperedmasses of steel will be almost absolutely uniform, uniform to such anextent that in several months use I have had nota single piece thatfailed under the usual tests given to determine the quality of theresult.

lith a furnace constructed according to this invention I have been ableto maintain a temperature in the tempering furnace of 1560 degrees F.(the proper temperature for tempering vanadium steel) all day and Icould maintain it for many days at a time.

In the drawings Figure 1, is a horizontal cross section through the rechamber of a furnace on the line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 2, is a verticalsection through the fire chamber and heating chamber. Fig. 3, is avertical section through the fire chamber and an annealing chamber. Fig.4, is an elevation, largely in section, of a type of furnace from whichthe muffle portion of the heating chamber is omitted.

The furnace consists of a base 1, that is without function except thatit raises the furnace oven to its proper height for convenient use,bringing the door 2 breast high to the workman. Upon the base, which isbuilt of suitable material, preferably brick work, is a fire chamber orcombustion cham7 ber 3, and above the combustion chamber is a heatingchamber 4. This heating chamber is an interior chamber inclosed withinan outer chamber for annealing purposes, but is itself the main chamberwhen the furnace is constructed to employ higher degrees of heat, as fortempering purposes. The combustion chamber is divided into passages byposts of very high heat resisting mate-A rial, such as fire brick orfire clay. These posts, 5, 6 and 7 are spaced to providel nu-. merouspassageways, and the posts are so located and shaped that passagewaysare not continuous from the middle chamber 8 of the side passages 9 and10, but the posts are so arranged that short passages leading directlyout from the middle chamber 8 are baffled or partially baffled by otherposts that are erected to produce such devious passageways. As shown inthe drawing the chamber S is comparatively wide at the point a and wherethe fuel begins to burn. From the mouth, between 12 and 13 of thechamber S, the chamber narrows to a comparatively narrow exit 14 and 15at the rear end of this chamber. At intervals along the chamber 8 areefliuent passages 16, 17,' 18 and 19 which lead toward side passages 9and 10. Within a short distance these effluent passages empty intolongitudinal pase sages or chambers 2O and 21, which extend lengthwiseor substantially parallel with the main chamber 8, and from thesechambers 2O and 21 are other efliuentpassages 23, 2st, etc. whichconnect the chambers 2O and 21 with the chambers or passages 9 and 10,the various side passages resulting as a whole in producing tortuouspassage ways which connect the main combustion chamber 8 with sidechambers or passages and 10; these passages 9 and 10 rise above thefloor 122L of the heating chamber and form communicating' passagesbetween the lower or fire chamber andthe upper or heating chamber. Theboundaries of the floor 12a are indicated in Fig. 1 by dotted lines 26aand 27a, and the outer boundaries of the side walls of the annealingchamber of Fig.

3 are indicated by dotted lines 26 and 27 shown in Fig. 1.

The dotted cross lines of Fig. 1 indicate 2 essere the junction of theslabs which form the i bination with a casing provided with suitfloor ofthe upper chamber. rlhrough the cover or roof 29 of the furnace are afevv vent holes 30 for the escape of gases produced by combustion, butno other flue is required, as under proper treatment the escaping gasesare only those gases produced by perfect combustion; occasionally at thestarting of a fire before the furnace has become thoroughly heated,there may be some small carbonaceous or smoky emanations, or if theadmission of fuel and air is not properly regulated there may be smokyemanations, or even flame emanations through these vent holes, but withproper treatment the flame does not rise out of the combustion chamberin the lower compartment, and the heating chamber above the combustionchamber will be maintained at the regular appropriate temperature withno visible flame within the chamber.

The fuel, which is preferably a fluid fuel., either liquid or gaseous,is admitted into the chamber and burned at the fire inlet opening y.:Preferably in close proximity to the opening through which the fuelenters is a small adjustable opening Z) for the admission of a secondarysupp y of air or oxygen to produce the perfect combustion of the fuelthat is desired. The opening for the secondary supply of air iscontrolled usually by partially stopping it with a Wedge shaped brick cthat varies the size of the opening, as may be desired. A door 2 whichis preferably a cast iron frame lined With fire resisting material isarranged at one end of the heating chamber, and this is generally andpreferably counterbalanced and uncovers the opening by rising, and is,of course, provided with a suitable counter-Weight and balanced lever,all of which counterweight- 32 and its attached cord and the sheave 3Qover which the cord runs are external to the chambers of the furnace.The Walls of the furnace are preferably bound together by iron bands oran iron shell 33 which surrounds the bricl; which forms the main part ofthe furnace, and serves to hold the brick in place.

1What I claim is l. ln a furnace for heating metal, in com-` ableopenings for the introduction of fuel and air, a plurality of verticalposts arranged to produce a central passage and a plurality of sidepassages substantially parallel to said central passage, and crosspassages uniting the central passage and the side passages, the saidcentral passage tapering from one end to the other, substantially asdescribed.

ln a furnace for heating metal, in coinbination With a chamber adaptedto receive the metal to be heated and provided with suitable openingsfor the introduction of said metal thcreinto` a combustion chamberseparated from said heating chamber, divided by vertical posts into a.central longitudinal passage and a plurality of longitudinal passages ateach side of the said central passage., cross passages connecting theseveral passages, the dividing posts being arranged to obstruct thecontinuous direct travel. of flame from the central passage to theextreme side passage, the said central passage narrowing from the endWhere the fuel is introduced thereinto to its opposite end,substantially as described.

B. ln a furnace for heating metal, in conibination with a chamber to beheated a combustion chamber located in proximity thereto andcommunicating therewith, said combustion chamber being divided byvertical posts into a central passage into one end of which fuel isdelivered and a plurality of side passages at each side of said centralpassage extending in parallel relation thereto, and cross passagesleading between the central longitudinal passage and the first of saidside passages and other cross passages leading from the first of saidside passages to the second side passage, the posts between the secondand third of said passages being arranged to obstruct the direct travelfrom the central passage to the extreme side pas sage, substantially asdescribed.

in testimony whereof l sign this specification in the pr-esence of tivoWitnesses.

FREDRCH J. NGE. lVit-nesses CHARLES l?. BURTON, VIRGINIA C. Srinrrr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

